


His True Destiny

by wildz907



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: F/M, Family, Gen, Introspection, Set in Season 3, Twelve Shots of Summer Challenge
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-08
Updated: 2020-06-08
Packaged: 2021-03-03 23:21:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,573
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24603850
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wildz907/pseuds/wildz907
Summary: Zuko had believed for so long that his destiny was to capture the Avatar. Now he knew that his true destiny was to help him. [Twelve Shots of Summer 2020]
Relationships: Aang & Zuko (Avatar), Azula & Zuko (Avatar), Iroh & Zuko (Avatar), Katara & Zuko (Avatar), Mai/Zuko (Avatar), Ozai & Zuko (Avatar), Ursa & Zuko (Avatar)
Kudos: 30
Collections: Twelve Shots of Summer





	His True Destiny

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Twelve Shots of Summer 2020. Week One prompts: misguided and mollycoddled.

Zuko had believed for so long that his destiny was to capture the Avatar. Now he knew that his true destiny was to help him.

Despite the fact that he was leaving behind all that he had worked so hard to attain, Zuko felt more certain than he could ever remember feeling. These last few years had changed him in ways he hadn’t fully understood until now. Even though he was sad to leave behind Mai, he otherwise did not really have any regrets. The only thing he actually regretted was that it had taken him this long to see how wrong he had been. He had been so misguided, and he had let Azula get into his head. Zuko had been so desperate for his father’s love that he had betrayed the man who was truly his father. Iroh had done nothing but love and support him, and he had thrown that all away for the acknowledgement from a man who he now could see was incapable of loving anyone. 

Maybe he had been chasing those early childhood memories too hard. He was sure that there had been a time when he and his family had been happy. There had been a time when his father was not so cruel. Maybe he had never been loving, but he hadn’t been as bad as he was later on. Zuko still did not know what had caused everything to change. His father had started growing more distant from him, and he and his sister were constantly pitted against each other. It had been hard, always being second best to Azula. She was younger than him, but still quickly surpassed him. She never hesitated to rub it in his face, and his father never hesitated to make it clear that Azula was the favored child.

Still, everything hadn’t been too horrible while Zuko still had his mother. She always spent time with him, and encouraged him. She made him feel like he wasn’t completely useless. His father had later complained that her coddling had made him even weaker, but he disagreed. Her love had only helped him, and when she left, he started to lose hope. His father never had time for him, and he had little desire to seek out Azula’s company. Iroh was there for him as much as he could be, but Zuko desperately craved recognition from his father. As dismissive as Ozai was to Zuko, he still had never imagined that his father would hurt him the way he had.

In the aftermath of his banishment, Zuko had pushed away all the feelings that he thought made him weak. He didn’t have time for compassion anymore. He put all his focus into finding the Avatar. For nearly three long years he searched tirelessly, and when he finally did find Aang, he started to once again feel hope. The appearance of the Avatar had brought hope to many people, though Zuko knew his reasons were vastly different from the norm. He thought that he could finally regain his honor and his rightful place as the next Fire Lord if he could capture Aang. Upon discovering that the Avatar was a child, he felt more confident than ever that he would soon be able to go home. Of course, he had sorely underestimated the young Avatar.

Every time he thought that he had successfully captured Aang, the airbender always managed to get away. And as time went on, Zuko started having doubts. When he and his uncle went on the run from Azula, he was really able to see all the bad things that the Fire Nation had done and was still doing. He met innocent and good people who were suffering due to Zuko's family. How could he still see the Fire Nation as righteous? At the same time, though, he desperately missed his home. He missed feeling like he belonged somewhere. His uncle was content to settle down in Ba Sing Se, but Zuko still felt torn and unhappy. Could he really just give up his birthright and help run a tea shop?

When faced with the choice to hunt down Aang in Ba Sing Se or to help him by freeing his flying bison, Zuko had felt more confused than ever. His whole life he had grown up knowing that the Avatar was an enemy to the Fire Nation. He had been told that the Avatar would try to stop the mission that Sozin had begun a hundred years past. His duty to his nation meant that he should try to capture Aang. But his uncle urged him to take a different path. He was torn between what used to seem right, and what he was beginning to see was actually right. Zuko chose to free the bison, and that led to an identity crisis.

In the aftermath of that, Zuko had begun to come to terms with his new life. He had actually felt peaceful, now that he had chosen to try to let go of his past. Of course, that was when Azula once again had to mess with his head. He had been prepared to fight her, but she just tossed him in a prison, with the Water Tribe girl, of all people. Katara had been rightfully angry to see him, and neither of them had been prepared for the moment of understanding they shared. He hadn’t thought this girl could have anything in common with him, but learning that she had lost her mother just as he had made him see her in a new light. Her offer to try to heal his scar absolutely floored him. He had hunted down her and her friends for months, yet she was still willing to help him. It made him all the more ashamed that he had betrayed the tentative trust she was giving him. 

Despite the things he had seen and the changes he had gone through, Zuko gave in to the part of himself that craved his father’s approval. He was such an idiot, and he wasn’t sure if he could ever forgive himself for betraying his uncle. If only he had realized that his uncle was the only family he needed. Iroh had given him all of the unconditional love that Ozai wasn’t capable of. He had supported him and guided him and consistently forgiven him for all of his mistakes. Zuko was terrified that this would be the one thing that his uncle would not be able to forgive him for. Uncle Iroh had always been there when Zuko needed him, but when the time came for Zuko to stand by his side, he hadn’t. 

Zuko had told himself that it was his uncle who was failing their family. He let Azula convince him that he had made the right choice. And for a moment, he thought maybe he had. His father had actually welcomed him back and said he was proud. But when he found out that Azula had lied and said he killed Aang, he couldn’t help but wonder if he still would have been welcomed back without that lie. He knew that Aang was still alive. There was no doubt in his mind that Katara used that special water to heal him. So he once again did something stupid and hired someone to finish him off. That was yet another thing he would need to atone for. 

Though he tried to be happy with having his life back, he just wasn’t. Having his father’s approval did not bring him the peace of mind that he had hoped it would. Zuko was haunted by the feeling that he had made a terrible mistake. Even the time that he got to spend with Mai was not enough to reassure him of his choice. For so long, he had thought he needed to follow the lead of his father, and continue what Sozin had started. But now he knew that he needed to help bring balance. Sozin’s blood ran through his veins, but so did the blood of Avatar Roku. He was done with trying to be someone he was not. He confronted his father, and finally released all of the pent up hurt and anger he had carried for years. His father thought him weak, but Zuko knew now that doing the right thing, even if it meant going against your family, made him strong. He only wished he could have broken his uncle out of prison, but Iroh had already gotten himself out. As much as he wanted to go find him, he knew helping Aang was more important. When the time was right, he would find his uncle and ask for his forgiveness.

As Zuko landed his war balloon near the Western Air Temple, he thought about what to do from here. He knew that there was a very real chance that Aang and his friends would attack him the second he approached them. He was not sure what he could say or do to prove to them that he had changed. After all that he had put them through, they had every right to hate him. But he hoped that they would listen to what he had to say. Aang needed to learn firebending, and Zuko knew he was meant to teach him. He would do whatever he could to right his wrongs, and to help Aang save the world.

**Author's Note:**

> I've surprisingly never written for this fandom before even though this show was my childhood! Binge watching it on Netflix reminded me why I loved it so much, so I decided to write something for it. I wanted to get into Zuko's head and imagine what he was thinking about when he left to join Team Avatar. This was written for the Twelve Shots of Summer challenge on fanfiction.net! Between the two prompts, I focused more on misguided, but I did try to reference mollycoddled.


End file.
